a weekend in the city.

Part of the move to Brooklyn and adjustment to city life has been trying to sort through the overwhelming number of things going on here on any given day.  Every weekend there's a round of questioning that goes something like this:

- Oh, the weather will be nice this weekend.  I should probably take some time to go for a run and sit and have a coffee somewhere, maybe read in the park...
- But then there's this street fair in downtown Manhattan on Saturday and it would be really great to eat lunch from one of the food trucks that will be there...
- But then again, Brooklyn Based is sponsoring an event in the neighborhood...
- And the event has free beer, sold...
- I need to see Friend X today, and also Friend Y, and Friend Z is visiting but only knows Friend X...
- There is a huge pile of laundry still sitting in my room.
- Wait, it's Sunday?

I'm not complaining; part of my motivation for moving here was the appeal of all these exciting, interesting happenings.  It's just exhausting!

But it does lead to some pretty sweet photos.  Enjoy.

hello brooklyn.

The past few weeks have been among the craziest since I got home from South Africa.  I have no complaints, but life has happened at warp speed.  I unpacked my bags, got a job (twice), and then had to suffer only two months of commuting before moving into a gorgeous apartment with two very cool roommates in Brooklyn.  We joke that our walk from the subway to the front door is a little like wandering down Sesame Street-- it sure looks that way.

Here are some photos from our first few nights.  It's time to get into some semblance of a routine, including regular posting again.

Our move-in weekend mostly involved high levels of stress, but luckily such worries were eclipsed by champagne toasts, avocado and lemon pepper, the record collections of both our dads, finding working speakers on a stoop in Carroll Gardens, and the view of downtown Manhattan from the roof.  That and the company of some good friends have me very happy to be here.  It's going to be a good summer.

 

Postscript: I am so ok with how central our hardwood floors are to these photos.

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a day at the museum.

Back at the end of February, just before I started my new job in Brooklyn, I spent a day running around my beloved Philadelphia with Kevin.  It was a beautiful early spring day, and a fitting "farewell" to the city of brotherly love.

We had some Robsons beers that I'd smuggled home from Durban to go with our giant plates of brunch at Sabrina's.  We walked up the Parkway to the Art Museum where we got given the red member badges, for the sole purpose, the girl at the counter told us, of making us feel superior.  We saw armor that seemed to be made to transform horses into unicorns, lots of modern art installations, and scoffed at tourists running up and down the museum steps (I guess the red badges worked).

It was a very nice day.




All photos taking with the iPhone, some with the instagr.am App.

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oh, life.

Life has been crazy lately.  Since my last post, I wrapped up a very short-lived career "trading for Joe", and began a new job at a non-profit in Brooklyn.
Yep, that's right.  Brooklyn.  As in, "I live in Pennsylvania and commute to Brooklyn every morning and every evening".  Luckily it hasn't been as bad (yet) as I'd thought and within a few months I'll have saved enough money to pay a deposit on an apartment in New York.  But for now, my travel time clocks in at just under 2 hours each way, which I'm viewing as extremely valuable reading/podcast time (Ira Glass, I'm lookin at you).

I've got a lot of figuring out to do, most especially in the How will I ever find time to do the things I enjoy doing in the free time I don't have? category, but it will come with time.  And for now, I've got my first real job working for an organization I believe in in one of the greatest cities in the world.  And though the commute may get long at times, that fact is certainly nothing to complain about.

This weekend, updates about life.  Promise.

my kind of valentine.

Having culled the best of the best from Twitter suggestions, NPR have created a series of public radio themed Valentines, which, it has to be said, would win me over any day of the year.  Thanks to Becca for the link!
I for one will be spending Valentine's Day stacking Gala apples into aesthetically-pleasing pyramids and trying to resist the temptation to buy chocolate and baby roses with my employee discount.



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hyperlinked apologies, or the best email i've gotten in a long time.

My 24th birthday is swiftly approaching, so I invited a few friends to celebrate with me in New York for a variety of activities, included, but not limited to: improv comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade, burgers at Trailer Park Lounge, and jukebox partying at The Library.  My friend Jackie can't come, but she completely made up for it by sending me this hilarious email (if any of the links don't work, blame Mark Zuckerberg):

Hey Shin, 

I'm super sorry but I can't make it down to the city this weekend! School is just crazy, shocking, I know. Anyways I'm pretty bummed because (aside from seeing your shining face) I've recently been getting into Parks & Recreation which makes me think of UCB bc of Amy Poehler. I was actually just trying to explain it to someone. Which sketches are the ones that you would always watch? I want to show them to everyone and/or watch them at 7:30 pm on Saturday so we can be doing the same thing...I'm such a hopeless romantic! <3

mmmmk well I'm sorry again that I can't make it. I guess you can have a "Lovers Concerto" with someone else at the Trailer Park Lounge. Tell me what the special surprise is...I'm really curious.

xoxo    :-*   lylas    ;-)    

Jackie


 

If being a fancy lawyer doesn't work out, perhaps crafting hyperlinked emails could be a valid career choice...

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grade 3 plants a flower.

If you haven't heard by now, I lived and worked in South Africa last year as an Augustinian Volunteer.  I taught English in a Zulu primary school not far from Durban five days a week, to children in Grades 3-7.
This is a silly and very amateur video I made of one of our projects.  On Earth Day, Mary-Kate and I asked our third graders to decorate (hlobisa) a petal we'd cut out of white paper, which we then assembled, and... well, just watch the video.

Music by Orba Squara.






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